Peace Corps Journals

Verishen School Has a New Classroom

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

2012-05-28 14:21:00

This is what the "classroom" looked like in September 2011. There were
broken windows, lots of "stuff" (useful and not), and a floor in disrepair.

The new mathematics classroom at Verishen School was planned carefully over several months but the actual renovation happened in less than seven weeks. In spring 2011, once we had the money in hand for the renovation for the chemistry and biology lab, I drew up a list of eight tasks, that Zarik and I thought would be suitable and valuable for a second project at the school. These included repairing the gym, renovating the computer lab and getting more computers, a language room for German and Russian classes, improving the first and second grade classrooms, and so on. The bathrooms are dismal and unclean, and the auditorium, although serviceable, is in a sad state. However, I didn't include either in the list as Zarik and other senior teachers have made it clear that their first priority was improving the educational facilities. After translating the list with details about each potential project into Armenian and making several edits and alterations, I gave the final list to Zarik in late June for the teachers to select one project before the start of the school year and turned my attention back to the chemistry-biology lab and raising funds for the Goris kindergarten. The science and math teachers met and voted to renovate an unused room in poor condition but in a busy wing of the school and convert it into a room dedicated to teaching mathematics to secondary school students. This choice was ratified by all the teachers at the end of August, immediately prior to the start of the school year. In September and October, Zarik and I, along with the two math teachers, started to plan the new room and asked for estimates from area contractors for the renovation.

We cleaned the room out in March and this is

what we gave the contractor to work with.

In November, 2011, I applied for funding from the Peace Corps and USAID and submitted a proposal to renovate the room. The renovation was relatively expensive as extensive repairs were needed. We sought US$4,532 (1,699,400 AMD) for the materials and equipment for the renovation. The Verishen Town Hall agreed to come up with the community contribution of 25% of the total project cost by paying all labor costs associated with the renovation. In January, I submitted a proposal to the Peace Corps Partnership Program, in which the Peace Corps posts a short description of approved projects on their Web site and receives contributions. We requested $3,327 (1,247,500 AMD) to furnish the room with cupboards, tables, chairs, curtains, and teaching materials. As with the chemistry and biology lab, friends and family contributed generously to this project and it was fully funded by early March and the funds were in my bank account two weeks later. However, it was now clear that the contractor would be unable to begin work on the renovation until the snow and ice around the school from an unusually long winter was gone. The room to be renovated was used for some time as a general storage area and, during March, students and teachers cleared and sorted the material. The weather warmed up towards the end of March, the snow and ice was soon gone, and the contractor started work on April 2.

By January, I understood the teachers' wisdom in selecting the math room as the next project. I assumed they would pick the computer room but the vote reflected the confidence of the teaching staff in the teachers involved and whether they would use the new facility fully, keep it up to date, and continue to augment the materials. The two math teachers are energetic, diligent, and active and, as Zarik said to me tactfully some time after the decision was made, perhaps the computer teacher could make better use of the existing facility.

The room was in poor condition and required extensive renovation including repairs to the floor. In the past, water outside had drained under the school and leaked up through the concrete beneath the floor, damaging the parquetry. To remedy this, the contractor dug a trench outside the room and filled it with concrete to divert water to the west of the building where it could drain downhill and away from the school.

On Sunday May 20, while we were preparing displays for the
opening and the floor varnish was drying, I took a couple of pictures
of the finished and unfurnished room.

Another view of the unfurnished room looking towards the door.
On the left is a sink with an electric hand drier and on the right is a large heater
with a fan that the contractor used to help dry the stucco, plaster, paint, and varnish.

The weather provided additional challenges during the renovation. April and May were cool and damp and the stucco, plaster, and paint on walls and ceiling, and varnish and sealer on the floor dried slowly. However, all work was completed by Saturday May 19 and, after allowing time for the floor varnish and sealer to dry, we were able to move the furniture into the room on the afternoon of Monday May 21, in time for the opening the next day.

We are very happy with the renovation and the work of the contractor. Everything was done as requested and some additional unexpected but welcome additions, such as tile splash boards above the sink and rewiring the hand drier to avoid the use of an extension cord, were provided. The contractor also installed additional radiators in the room and hung the curtains.

The furniture for the classroom came from small businesses in Goris and Verishen. Blackboards, cupboards, and tables were built in Verishen and the chairs were ordered from Goris. Only the hand driers and curtains came from Yerevan.

The support for this project in and around Verishen has been remarkable and many people worked hard to ensure the room was ready for the opening. Zarik and I prepared several displays in the halls outside the room as did the two math teachers. Zarik, the math teachers, the director, and I were at the school for most of Sunday preparing displays while students dropped in and out to help. On Monday afternoon, the furniture maker came by to add shelves to the cupboards and hang the blackboards and the pieces of wood we use to hang posters and drawing equipment from, and helped us to move the furniture into the room. In winter, Zarik and I spent considerable time looking at pictures of classrooms on the Internet to get ideas for the room. Both math teachers did the same and the three teachers compared notes and opted for green furniture and other details.

Looking to the rear of the new, furnished classroom.

The cupboards contain books, models, and other teaching supplies.

Posters hang from pieces of wood on the walls.

Looking towards the front of the classroom while we were
still busy preparing for the opening the next day.

The opening was a resounding success but it was not without some anxiety. We originally scheduled the opening for Saturday May 19 but then the teachers remembered that May 19 is the anniversary of the death last year of a popular and good student in a car accident. So, out of respect, the opening was changed to May 22 and that was probably a good thing as we would not have been ready by Saturday. On Sunday evening, two days before the opening, the mother of the Syunik marz governor died and her funeral was set for noon on Tuesday in Goris, - the same time as the opening. It was soon obvious that all the politically connected people in Verishen and Goris would attend the funeral. Zarik had worked hard to invite many people and was initially a bit discouraged. The weather on Tuesday morning was frightful. It rained and hailed, the power flickered, and we needed the lights on in the hallway and classroom. However, it improved a bit by noon and after some delay, the opening ceremony began in the auditorium. I invited our regional director and the director of Peace Corps Armenia, a nice and well-meaning person, but one who may be better suited to supervising a boy scout troop. I feel that the director needs to be more familiar with what we're doing in Armenia and the teachers and citizens appreciate it when Peace Corp staff visit. The ceremony started with speeches. The school director spoke and then I followed and this time I had a speech prepared in Armenian and it went reasonably well. I acknowledged the major players in the project and stressed that it was a real community effort. We were entertained by the school choir who then went to Yerevan the next day and won first prize in a competition for school choirs. We all adjourned to view the room with many oohs and ahs, particularly as I had a couple of prints made of the classroom before renovation and Zarik put them up by the door.

The Verishen School choir, which is all young children, sang for us
in the auditorium after the speeches, and they're good.

One of the numerous displays in the hallway outside the room.

On one of the displays, some teachers and students wrote short notes
to me (in cursive Armenian) and in this picture Zarik is reading them.

After the speeches and singing we had a brief inspection of the new room,
and many pictures were taken. Here (from the left) we have Matvey Ghazaryan,
the school director, David Lillie, Peace Corps Armenia director, Meri Arakelyan,
our regional manger, Shoghik Mkrchyan, my Armenian tutor, and me.

Zarik and me feeling happy and relieved in the new classroom.

The celebrations continued in the teachers' staffroom next door with cake, wine and cognac and many pictures. There was real warmth and happiness in the room and, again, I felt very glad to be a part of this community. Four other Goris-area volunteers, the two math teachers, the school director, a physics teacher, the PC director, our regional PC manager, and their driver adjourned to the house for a really first-class lunch. Zarik pulled out all stops. I can't list everything that was on the table but there was a lot – beef and potatoes, pork khorovats (barbecue), dolmas, ighikot, katnashor (curds), tomatoes, cucumbers, and greens, along with lavash and bread as well as wine (apple and blackberry), cognac, vodka, and juice. Austin and I prepared and served coffee and tea and Hrantic offered numerous toasts.

The cake that we ordered for the opening was a masterpiece!
Large, with "Armenian American Friendship" written in both
English and Armenian and a symbolic handshake with the two
flags. It was very tasty as well.

Before the cake was cut, the two math teachers, Manooshak (on the left)
and Emilia, Zarik and I posed in front of it.

Celebrating at home with a full table.

David Lillie, the Peace Corps director was impressed with the community spirit and what we've done here. There may be some rethinking of how the Peace Corps handles renovations like this in the future. In a school in Sisian, a language lab for English classes was built recently and the school was torn down soon afterwards. Another language lab in a village near Goris has seen little use since the volunteer there left. So this was a good opportunity for him to see a good use of funding and to visit a community and school that cares about their educational facilities. At this point, I feel that the best project is one where the volunteer or aid worker does not involve himself in the project too deeply. I think our efforts are best served by being a catalyst to help bring in funding for projects that are wanted, selected, and organized by the community.

I love this picture as, even though it's not well focused,
it shows the deputy head and director of studies having
a rare happy moment together after the cake was cut.

One last picture of the new room, looking out the window.

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ashley's Expeditions and Insights

2012-05-28 03:51:00

Well, folks. I'm here! Armenia so far treated me very well, as has the Peace Corps staff and volunteers. My experiences have surpassed my expectations and am extremely excited about my next couple of years!

Friday we landed in Yerevan at 4:40AM. Needless to say, our group was extremely jetlagged and exhausted from travel, but with the adrenaline pumping through our veins, we were awake enough to visit the Zvartnots Cathedral ruins built in the 7th century. The energy surrounding the place was magnificent.

AND I got to see my first mountain EVER! And it wasn't just any mountain, it was Mount Ararat! It was wonderful to be treated to such a wonderful experience within our first few hours of arrival.

After our visit to the Zvartnots Cathedral ruins, we took an hour long bus ride through the mountains to our hotel. The day was spent resting and basic orientation. The hotel is a resort location complete with hot showers, a flushing toilet, three square meals a day, and heat!

Our first day of training was on Saturday. We began with a breakfast of bread, cheese, hard boiled eggs, and oatmeal. All was good, although Armenians LOVE salt. The oatmeal was a bit salty for my liking. All meals at the hotel have been served with bread and cheese. The cheese has an excellent consistency, but again, it's a bit salty for my taste. Other meals have included meat patties which to me seem to be kafta, rice, buckwheat, dolmas, and salads of all varieties, various vegetables and jams, and of course, yogurt. I'm very excited to see what meals will be served by my host family.

Training so far has consisted of medical, security, cross-cultural, and language classes. The classes have been informative and to some degree the content has been already covered in the massive amounts of reading material we have been provided. Yesterday however, we had a meeting with the CYD Tech coordinator. Community and Youth Development is the program in which I've been placed; those involved in the program will essentially act as consultants to various non-for-profits or non-governmental organizations. Tech training begins tomorrow and I am thrilled to begin training on what I actually came here to do!

Though we've been doing a lot of training, I did have time to go for a hike yesterday. The area in which the hotel is located is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay here at the hotel but alas, today is the day that I move in with my first host family in Nurnus! I am feeling a variety of emotions, including excitement, nervousness, and curiosity. With my limited language skills this will undeniably be an awkward experience, but one I will remember for a lifetime. I am excited to share with you all my experiences with my host family as soon as I can!

All Adventures Must Come to an End

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Alyssa’s Journey to find Felicity, Passion and Rapture

2012-05-27 16:50:00

These last few weeks have been so busy! I am sad to say that they were my last weeks at my school. May 25^th was the student’s last bell which is an awesome tradition that I want to share with you but first I want to tell you how I chose to end the year with my students. I decided that just having a final test with my students and simply saying goodbye wouldn’t be enough. So I held a jeopardy like competition to find out who my best student is. I invited the parents of my students and also told them to bring some goodies because after the competition we would have a party to celebrate their accomplishments and I would bring a cake for them.

So if you recall, all year my 5^th grade class has been having a sticker book competition, where every time they do something great in class they get a sticker and the student with the most stickers would receive a special prize at the end of the year. So going into the end of the year competition I knew that my top students were really close in their race for stickers, each having about 50-55 stickers. So to make the competition have more meaning I told my students that the winner of the competition would receive 10 stickers, meaning basically that whoever won, would also win the year long class competition. To my Fifth grade class this was a huge deal.

The night before the competition my boyfriend brought me over the most beautiful surprise, a cake for my class with both the American flag and the Armenian flag, it was really so perfect and I couldn’t wait to show my students!!

The class party went perfectly; all the students had bells or sticks to hit their desk with when they knew an answer and they were all so eager to answer every question. It was great for the parents to be able to witness not only how awesome their children are and how far they have come in English, but also to see how classes can be fun and educational. I had so many parents tell me that every day their child talks about how fun English class is and they don’t understand why, so I wanted to share this with them. After two rounds, we had two winners and I couldn’t bear to take away the win from one of the girls so I gave them both the ten stickers, but in the end my little nune was the winner, the one with the most stickers, so she won the prize which ended up being a Hodge-podge of everything my parents have sent me for the past two years, stickers, candy, English books, a pair of gloves, markers and I have no idea what else. After the game we ate cake together and talked about the two years that we have spent together.

I can’t tell you how sad it made me to think that it would be the last time I walked into a classroom and saw their adorable little faces. The last time they would all rush up to me yelling Miss Alyssa , trying to tell me a something before the rest of the class got the opportunity. The last time that we would giggle about language mistakes that I make in Armenian, or they make in English together. I know teachers are not supposed to have favorites but really this class has been my rainbow on a cloudy day. They have always made me feel respected, but also loved. As an outsider in a small town, it’s sad to say they have been some of my only friends at times and in a way, I love them like they are my children. I have grown to know their personalities, their families, their goals and even their shortcomings. I can’t imagine not being in Armenia come next September to welcome them back to school. It really was a great way to spend my class with them but also a really hard day for me because it’s basically the end of my journey here. Sure I am not officially done with Peace Corps until August 3^rd, and I have some summer camps and such, but this is the end of what I came here to do, and though it feels amazing it is also very frightening and sad at the same time. Part of me is ready to go home, I miss my home and Americans so much, but a big part of me wants to stay here and is having trouble moving on…

5/27 - An Overdue Update

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Destination: Hayastan

2012-05-27 12:15:00

Why haven’t I been posting lately? Oh, for a number of reasons really, but mostly because I have been busy! This isn’t total justification, actually (I still have had plenty of time to write a blog post now & again), but it at least makes for a nice intro to this post.

So what’ve I been up to? Let’s see…
Read more »

YouTubing

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Destination: Hayastan

2012-05-27 12:19:00

Hey all! In case you didn't know, I've been posting some videos on YouTube! It's a slow process, uploading all of these, but I hope you enjoy 'em! They should give a little more insight to my life here that I can't quite convey through words!

http://www.youtube.com/user/kja498/videos

May - An Election and a Commemoration

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Hedley in Hayastan

2012-05-25 04:53:00

Pear blossoms in early May. The pear trees flowered heavily this spring,
but there were very few apple flowers.

May has been mild and wet so far. Plants in the garden are growing, most of the fruit trees have finished flowering, and all the trees are fully leafed, including walnuts and oaks which are among the last. We've had a lot of rain this month, most of it falling in the late afternoon or early evening after clouds build up in mountains to the north. The gardens are a little behind where they were this time last year, probably because bed preparation was later than usual thanks to late snows in March. One disappointment so far this year has been the relative paucity of apple flowers. We had a lot of flowers last year and many apples but there will be few if any this year. Nobody seems to know why but perhaps they yielded too heavily last year (?).

The garden on May 23. Most of the visible vegetables are potatoes and beans,

some corn and onions on the left. Other vegetables - spinach, cabbage, beets,

cilanto, etc - are scattered on the left and below the grape arbor.

The two trees in the center of the picture are apple trees.

On Sunday, May 6 there were elections for the Armenian Parliament. Out of a total of 131 seats in parliament, which is called the National Assembly, 90 are distributed between parties using a proportional system, while the other 41 are elected from their constituencies directly. The election threshold 5% for parties, that is, a party needs at least 5% of the vote to be accorded a seat in parliament. Armenia is governed by a president and a single house of parliament, the National Assembly.

A total of 9 parties registered to participate in the election, and 6 parties exceeded the threshold and won seats. The official election campaign began on April 8, but the first campaigns were on April 10, because of Easter. None of the participating parties held campaign rallies on April 24, which is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. May 5, the day before the election is a "Day of Silence", when most kinds of campaigning are prohibited by law.

The Republican Party has the most seats in Parliament and is the party of the current President, Sergh Sargsyan. On May 4, the last official day of the campaign, during a Republican Party concert and rally in Republic Square in Yerevan, dozens of balloons filled with hydrogen caught fire with over 150 people burned, some seriously. The Republican Party won44% of the vote and more than half of the seats in parliament. The Prosperous Armenia party, which is headed by Armenia's wealthiest man, Gagik Tsarukyan, came second with about one fourth of the seats, while four other parties gained less than 10 percent each.The show of support for the president may help Armenia move forward on long-stalled peace talks with neighboring Azerbaijan and on negotiations with Turkey to open the border.

The election was the first since rioting broke out in Armenia four years ago to protest the election of Mr. Sargsyan, Armenia’s third president since independence. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe criticized that election as flawed.The organization, a 56-nation group that monitors elections, noted some improvements in the Armenian voting this May. However, the organization did state that the campaign was marred by apparent vote buying and the enlistment of state employees to campaign for the governing party.

Armenia’s politics are closely watched by the large Armenian diaspora in the United States, France, and Russia. Most ethnic Armenians abroad lack dual citizenship and do not vote in Armenian elections, but their remittances play a significant role in financing the Armenian government.

Wednesday May 9 was a holiday in Armenia. It's official title is “Peace and Victory Day.” The Victory part commemorates the Victory of Soviet forces over Germany in World War II. It recognizes the signing of the capitulation documents on May 8, 1945. (The signing was late in the evening – after midnight by Moscow time.) The Peace part is more recent and celebrates the recapture of Shushi in Karabakh, on May 8,1992 by Armenian forces. The capture of Shushi was key and it marked the turning-point in the Karabakh campaign. The day was commemorated in Verishen by students and teachers walking from the school to the war memorial east of town. There we were joined by other citizens and heard speeches and singing. As people dispersed after the ceremony, many visited graves in the cemetery nearby. This year marked the twentieth anniversary of the recapture of Shushi and there were large military parades in that city.

The Verishen War Memorial as seen from the house.

The War Memorial is not far up the hills east of Verishen but it offers
an excellent view of Verishen, Akner, and the mountains.

Some of the students, teachers, and citizens of Verishen who
gathered at the War memorial on May 9.

A student delivering a stirring recitation at the

Verishen War Memorial on May 9.

Another student sang a patriotic song at the ceremony.

Most people in villages here are very knowlegeable about eating wild plants. In early spring, people are out gathering all sorts of greens, including nettles (quite tasty when young), several varieties of weeds that get coarse later but are fine when young, aveluk or dock leaves, and a tall plant from the carrot family that grows in moist, shaded locations. They harvest the young stems of this plant and call it իճիկոտ (ighikot). They're OK raw but are quite tasty after immersion in boiling water, which makes them more tender. The stems of this plant, which I think is a species of Chaerophyllum,but I'm going to have to wait till it flowers, are very similar to small specimens of a much larger plant that grows by the river. This latter plant, which I think is Heracleum sosnowskyi, is native here but is a pest in Poland, the Baltic states, Russia, and Ukraine. Apparently it was recommended as a silage crop in 1947 during Stalin's time but it took over large areas and is hard to eradicate - and is referred to now by some as Stalin's revenge. Cows eat it when it is young, and there's nothing else to eat, but not when it's older. Even though the young stems look similar to ighikot, it's a good plant to avoid, and everyone does, as all parts of the plant contain an allergen which causes extreme photosensitivity and burns. We have Jerusalem artichoke (գետնախնձոր – getnakhndsor; literally “earth apple”) growing in the garden and we dug a few up recently for lunch. While doing that we came across a stray ginseng plant. Zarik and Hrantic knew it is used medicinally but had to look it up in their books to see what it is used for. I don't think it's used much in Armenia.

Ighikot - the plant

Ighikot - the food

Another fascinating incident happened earlier this month. I went to the Post Office and on the way back Zarik, who was chatting with Hrantic's sister, Greta, beckoned to me. An older woman, probably in her late 70s or early 80s and dressed very traditionally, was proudly demonstrating her digital battery-operated wrist blood pressure monitor. We all tried it out and it gave reasonable readings quite quickly. (Greta was 176/110, Zarik was 136/90, and I was 110/64. You can see more about it on the Web. I was impressed and realized that you can order it from Amazon and other places. I was surprised that this lady had the device, but soon learned that relatives, who live in Melbourne, bought it and sent it to her. Armenia is often this surprising mix of the new and the old. The lady was very enthusiastic about the device and said she checks her BP three times a day now and is starting to see what helps and what doesn't. Give people the means to manage their health and they will usually do a fine job.

The renovation for the new math. classroom is nearing completion. It's been tense as the mortar, plaster, and paint have dried slowly in the moist weather we had in early and mid-May. However, we were able to move the furniture in the room on Monday afternoon, after the floor varnish and sealer had dried. I expected to be busy cleaning the windows and hanging curtains, but Zarik already took care of the windows with a group of students and the contractor hung the curtains. The opening went off very well on Tuesday morning. I'll post more about the classroom separately but I have provided one picture here.

The new classroom the day after the opening. (The weather was

bad the day of the opening - and we had to have the lights on

in the room in the middle of the day.)

We now have baby chicks. Hrantic put some eggs under some broody hens and the first lot hatched almost two weeks ago and the second emerged a few days ago. I was intrigued by what the young chicks are fed. For the first couple of days, they get crumbled hard-boiled egg yolk and they are now on a diet of curds (katnashor - ) which are made by boiling yogurt, straining the product to give a crumbly mix not unlike a dry cottage cheese. The curds are then mixed with a little raw egg and flour. Both foods are high in protein and are popular with the chicks.

One batch of baby chicks and the mother hen. After a few days,
they were let out to eat and wander around the basement.

Wild rose flowers on May 18. The petals are picked, dried,
and stored, and used to make a herbal infusion in winter.
Wild rose fruits (masoor) are picked in early fall, dried, and
used to make a vitamin-rich juice in winter.

Throughout May, clouds have been building up on the mountains,
during the day, often resulting in afternoon or evening showers.

Caught with Hunger Pains and No Food in the Pantry (And no pantry…)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ev's Travels

2012-05-24 11:59:25

It took awhile before the absurdity of it all hit me. I’ve been laying awake in bed for 45 minutes (actually in couch, because it’s more comfortable than my bed, with its 20 kilos of thick vermak blankets), debating with … Continue reading →

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ashley's Adventures

2012-05-24 05:31:00

Thanks to everyone who sent me a birthday card or package! I had a pretty good first birthday in Armenia. My students decorated the blackboards and sung happy birthday to me. Then my Armenian friend Manik had a surprise birthday lunch for me at a café with a few teachers. It was really nice to get together outside of school.

Later that day Danelle and I went to the huge monument in Noyemberyan and chilled there for a few hours.

I went to Yerevan on Friday for a meeting and met up with some other volunteers at our hostel. We spent the afternoon at an outdoor cafe, summer is finally here! We had a great time dancing the rest of the night and I went back to my village the next day.

Today I am traveling to Yerevan to meet the new volunteers. A few of us will stay at their hotel and help them adjust to Armenia. I barely remember those first few days because we were sleep deprived and jet lagged so it will be interesting to do it again!

23 days until Florida :)

Thanks for your Support!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ev's Travels

2012-05-22 15:10:27

The Border to Border project is now fully funded. Thank you to everyone who donated! Also, thank you to the sixth graders from Washington Middle School in Calumet, Michigan, for sending me OVER 90 LETTERS, as well as many items … Continue reading →

Last American Blogpost

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ashley's Expeditions and Insights

2012-05-18 17:36:00

I'm well overdue for a new blog post, so my sincere apologies to those anxious for a new post. However, I am full of excuses if it's of any consolation. :P

The majority of my time has been split between packing and celebrating. Going through everything you own can be a very daunting task. I have to say however, that it has proved to be an extremely cleansing and rejuvenating feeling to be able to get rid of the things no longer necessary in my life. I've moved several times over the last few years and most of my things had been stored in my brother's basement. I had been living with him for a about a year and a half, and it was tempting to leave everything as is and deal with it when I return. But with a little convincing from my brother, I knew that going through and purging what I don't need before leaving was the best option. I now own seven boxes of things and a cedar chest. And of course, two suitcases. I feel very cleansed, to say the least. I was just thankful when I got past this stage:

With regard to celebrations, a couple of weekends ago I had a Bon Voyage celebration; it was a lot of fun! I feel extremely loved to have had so many people come to wish me happy travels. My mother did a fantastic job planning and the party went extremely well. I did a lot of dancing, and even got on stage and sang one of my karaoke favorites with the band. My father also provided us with his musical talents and it was great to be able to see him perform once more before I leave. Oh, and did I mention there was cake?

My last day of work was May 11th. It was a bittersweet separation. I sincerely love the people I worked with and am sad to leave them behind. I never have worked with such an amazing group of people in all of my life and will miss them dearly. I was even welcomed with a beautifully decorated cube upon my arrival!

I also am thankful that I had the opportunity to have a small celebration with my yoga class. Our last session was done in a circle and afterward, we enjoyed fresh fruits and vegetables, cheese, olives, and wine. I couldn't have had a better send-off.

Now I am closing in on the day that I actually get on that plane and go. I am so excited to meet everyone and do what I've wanted to do for a long, long time. I am going to be very sad to leave my friends and family, but am thankful for technology and the ability to communicate with those I will be separated from.

I would also like to say a special thank-you to those who have helped me along the way: those who provided letters of recommendation, those who have thanked me for doing what I'm setting out to do, those who have told me that I am an inspiration, those who help remind me that even through times of stress that I can keep my head, those who have been an inspiration to me, those who've helped me to relax and have fun, those who have pushed me to take myself one step further than I thought I was capable of, and especially those who have showed me support and love from the beginning. I couldn't have come this far on my own and each one of you will travel with me in my heart and provide the foundation on which I build the future. Thank you all and SEE YOU IN ARMENIA!!!

It's Never Sunny in Vanadzor

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia joseph as a complex adaptive system

2012-05-17 13:16:00

So it's the rainy season here.

But I was ready for it this year, and I know that the payoff is a beautiful June, so I'll take the month of rain. And I have a rain jacket that I always have with me, even if it's sunny and 70 degrees. I know better.

I haven't posted in a while! Hopefully I'll make a few more before I leave, which is rather soon, is coming up quicker than I would like, and I'm gonna stop writing about it because I am having a minor panic attack writing this.

So it's the rainy spring season in Vanadzor, though it didn't really kick in to high gear of rains every day in the afternoon until a few days into May. I seem to have this distinct memory of it raining all through a good part of April, though perhaps that wasn't true and my memory is playing tricks on me.

But either way, its raining just about every day, and probably will continue to, and maybe even through, June. One thing that is rather peculiar this year is the rain starts even though it's still sunny out.

It's pouring rain in this picture, despite the sun shining.

It's actually quite an amazing feeling, the warm of the sun while rain falls all around you.

I haven't posted in a while. So these are some belated updates:

I went hiking. On several occasions. This one is south of Vanadzor leading up to the mountains. We climbed up high that we found some snow sometime around the end of April, as you can see in the background. Yeah that's snow that hasn't melted yet. I had to jump over multiple streams so that I could touch it.

I also went to Kiev for a training of trainers.

I will be a teacher for a program called FLEX the Future Leaders Exchange Program which gives youth from Eastern Europe and Central Asia a chance to live and study in a high school in the US. I will teach the Pre-Departure Orientation, a crash course on all the things they should expect in the US

The Armenian and Georgian trainers

I will be team teaching with an Armenian alum from the program during a 4 day orientation in June that I am incredibly excited for. They are always looking for host families for students and from talking to the alumni from the program it is a wonderful opportunity. If you use the link above and contact the FLEX program they can get you into contact with the host family placement organizations.

And one more picture of Kiev:

I really love the color inside on the balcony

Well, hello everyone. You could say it has been awhile. You...

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Adam's Adventure Across Armenia

2012-05-16 07:06:02

Well, hello everyone.

You could say it has been awhile. You could also say that I’ve been busy.
Where to begin…

Took an 8 day vacation to Georgia with my then girlfriend, Erin. We
wandered around for a few days, seeing the sights and taking in all Tbilisi
and Batumi had to offer. We visited an ancient Roman fortress which (at the
time) had a working water piping system.

We climbed up to see Mother Georgia and another fortress in Tbilisi. We
strolled in a newly constructed park. On the fourth day of our vacation, I
asked Erin to marry me…and she said yes! I had an engagement ring brought
over by another volunteer the previous month. Her and I had together spoke
on this subject, so while the date and place was a surprise, she knew I had
planned to ask.

On the last day of our vacation, we treated ourselves to some fine desserts
at a very swank restaurant featuring live music. And not just any music, a
violin and piano accompaniment. We each ordered a fabulous dessert and
shared. Both our selections were scrumptious!

In Batumi, where it rained for a portion and was kind of cold, we walked
through the botanical gardens. We sat along the Black Sea and rode the
train a few times.

So that is pretty much exciting! Aside from that, I’ve been putting
together a project to incorporate some new computers and an interactive
whiteboard for my school. It’s been quite something, but I think it’s
getting pretty solid.

We have our Mid Service Training conference beginning mid-June. There, we
will work more with our counterparts and get to officially meet the new
group arriving later this month! I can’t wait to meet the new groupies and
share my stories of life in Armenia with them.

So that’s pretty much it. Later peeps!

Los Angeles

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Running Around Armenia

2012-05-15 17:16:02

The Egyptian and American reunited after about one year in, of all places, the city of angels. The visit was too short but very much worth it. We went right from the airport to Farmers Market downtown and the sights … Continue reading →

Jobs and Applications, Mother's Day!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Rani's Adventures!

2012-05-13 17:36:00

I hate cover letters. I really, sincerely do not like cover letters and dont see the need for them. I also hate asking and re-asking for references, it feels like I am bothering people. I know linkedin is supposed to be the place where you can put your resume online and then get jobs based on that, but it doesnt quite work for the education field as well as it does for the business field. I am just so tired of applying to places. It also doesnt help that the job-getting process is a whole waiting game. Most schools dont know who they can hire until June so I wont know anything until probably July! Patience is a virtue that I am not that strong in. :)

However, I did get a permanent substitute position working at my Mom's school. It has been a lot of fun and re-affirmed that teaching is what I want to do for the foreseeable future. 7- and 8-year olds are ridiculous and tell the most random stories. They also make very honest and innocent mistakes like abbreviating assistant to ass without realizing what they did. Or writing "Im doing it in slow motion" as a sentence for their spelling word 'motion.' You know, completely innocent things like that, where as my adult-twisted mind transforms it into something hilarious.

It has been wonderful to work and back on to a schedule. I definitely had too much thinking time on my hands when I came back from traveling. Although, I feel as though I have aged 10 years being back to work in the classroom. I happily go to bed at 830 or 9 because I am so exhausted from working. I use my Sundays to lesson plan and prepare for the work week ahead. I mentally plan out my clothes because I have more than one pair of pants to choose from. I make leftovers or sandwiches for lunch and make sure to have my bag packed the night before. I drink coffee in the morning and not for the joy of coffee but because I am not sure how I would function without it. Yes, I have become that person. I am working now and as hesitant as I was to fall back in to a routine, I am liking the stability. I am also liking the paycheck and actually making money instead of just spending savings. But this will only last until the beginning of June and then I need to figure out my next paychecks.

I am still looking forward to my next adventure and my next step. I wish I knew when or where that was to but time will tell. I will find out soon enough. I have enjoyed living with my parents but I am ready to move on my own again. The next place I move will be where I start my own home, which is very weird to think about. Every time I have 'flown' from the nest, I always had a room/storage place at my parents house. I also knew that I would probably be back home, either as a layover or a place to regroup and go out again. Leaving for college, I knew I would be back before I went in to Peace Corps. After Peace Corps, I knew I would use home as a place to regroup before leaving again. Now, the next time I leave it will be because I have a job, a life to start and if I come home again it will be because something didnt work out. I wont use home as a base anymore, I will be making my base somewhere else. It is overwhelming, scary and intimidating. At the same time, it is exciting, challenging and I am ready for it!

I feel like most people do this at the age of 20 or so, but I am doing it at the wonderful age of 27 and I dont feel wrong about it. I dont feel old or like I am off the path. This is the way my life has worked out and I am happy to be where I am. :)

With that, I want to write a little about my amazing mother! It is Mother's Day after all! She is probably one of the only people that reads this thing anyways...

I want to thank you, Mom, for helping me, listening to me, comforting me, pushing me, challenging me, cooking with me, and above all consistently loving me for who I am even when I might not have deserved all of it! You are an inspiring role model and one of the most understanding and accepting people I know. If more people were like you, this world would be a lot better! Keep being amazing! Thanks for being the best friend anyone could ask for!

And to all those Mom-like figures out there, my Aunts, Grandmothers, Friends, and my friend's Moms, you all have done something amazing! You inspire, you support, you teach, and you unconditionally love those in your life. Thank you!

I hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day and make sure you send your thanks to your own Mom and to those Moms in your life!

Love.

Talin 5K Results & Photos!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia bokhart

2012-05-13 07:08:35

As part of an initiative to raise fitness & health awareness in Talin (and to try and mimic the Indianapolis Mini Marathon…ha), Talin Hope, a local Non-profit organization in Talin, hosted the first annual Talin 5K yesterday, May 12th, 2012 at noon. Please check out the results & photos at: www.talinruns.wordpress.com

Extreme Affordability: Innovative Solutions for Surgical Care, Josh Wood, MPA

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia YouTube Videos matching query: "peace corps" "Armenia"&search_sort=video_date_uploaded

2012-05-10 16:50:22

	Extreme Affordability: Innovative Solutions for Surgical Care, Josh Wood, MPA Joshua Wood, MPA Joshua Wood currently works as the Executive Director of IVUmed, a Salt Lake City-based nongovernmental organization dedicated to making quality urological care available to people worldwide. Mr. Wood began work with IVUmed in 2006. As Executive Director, he oversees IVUmed's programs and operations, including strategic planning and implementation, fundraising and development, staffing and operations, and global partner relations. He has a master's degree in international relations and public administration from the University of Utah and a bachelor's degree in geography and anthropology. He has presented research and program outcomes to divisions of the World Health Organization and a variety of medical and surgical associations, including the American Urological Association. He has served as a lecturer at the University of Utah and has consulted with a number of international surgical organizations, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining IVUmed, Josh ran a digital health program benefiting medically underserved populations in the United States. He has also served as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Armenia focusing on education and community development.	From: GlobalSurgery Views: 1 0 ratings
	Time: 14:58	More in Education

Shake Shake Shake

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ashley's Adventures

2012-05-09 18:27:00

On Monday I experienced my first ever earthquake. It was just before 9 in the morning and I was getting ready to go to school. The ground started to shake and I thought it was just a large truck driving on the road above my house. Then, my house began to shake back and forth and I realized it was an earthquake. I ran outside, but by the time I finally got there it had stopped. I stood outside talking to my neighbors, all wearing their pajamas, and they kept asking me if I was afraid. To be honest earthquakes totally freak me out now. I wearily went back into my house, saw there was no damage, and finished getting ready. I started walking to school when suddenly 20 students rushed the street and yelled to me that school was cancelled because of the earthquake. There was no damage to the school, but they closed it in case of aftershocks (There actually was a strong aftershock later that afternoon). I think we were the only school in the region that was closed. The epicenter of the earthquake was in Azerbaijan and people as far as Yerevan could feel it.

I had a conversation the next day with an Armenian who asked if we had earthquakes in America. I said yes, but not usually in Florida. I then explained hurricanes to her. She said hurricanes sounded much more frightening because of the water and wind. I told her I was much more afraid of earthquakes because there is absolutely no warning before it strikes. I hope that was the only earthquake of my Peace Corps service… Oh well, at least I'll be earthquake-free Florida in 38 days! Sorry Washington DC (49 days!), your earthquake last year isn't going to win you any favors ;)

Julietta

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Emily's Armenian Adventures

2012-05-09 15:14:00

My host brother and his wife just had their first baby! Her name is Julietta, my host family could not be more excited to have a baby in their house. I have learned that it is thought to be bad luck to take pictures of a baby in the first 40days, after those 40 days they have a big BBQ to present the baby to their friends. So I dont have any pictures yet but she is adorable! Yerazik (the mother) asked me to make this blanket that she saw online and a hat to match it.

Levon and Yerazik- the proud new parents

Dance Dance

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Alyssa’s Journey to find Felicity, Passion and Rapture

2012-05-07 21:42:00

So the last week has been super hectic!! Not only have I been preparing for our last 3 weeks of school, which means final tests, review games and just cherishing my final moments in the classroom, but I have also helped to organize a dance camp at the Spitak YMCA where Peace Corps volunteers taught a choreographed hip hop dance... and by helped I mean a little something like this: Hey Peace Corps dance camp volunteers you should come to the YMCA in Spitak and do the camp PCDC: oh really when?? Me: Hey YMCA we want to do a camp when should we?? YMCA: this week would be best ME: Hey PCDC come on these dates, this is how you get to spitak.... =) oh yeah and also I cheered and pointed out where people needed help and provided an encouraging smile! Also I cooked dinner for the volunteers one night, and it was pretty much amazing.

So anyways the camp was three days long and mostly kids from the YMCA attended but I also had two of my students go. 4 PCV's pretty much did everything on their own, teaching dance moves, B boy styles and a routine. Each day was about 3 hours long and on the last day the kids preformed for the YMCA.
Please follow this link to watch this amazing video that the Spitak YMCA prepared!!! You can catch a few glimpses of me on the sidelines!! =)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhfg4NP3QRg&feature=share

Border to Border

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ev's Travels

2012-05-07 19:30:48

Why should you help fund the Border to Border project? Let me paint a picture for you. Driving down the road, past Lake Sevan, the waterfront is lined with small bushes. The bushes are adorned with plastic bags of all … Continue reading →

Dance camp at Spitak YMCA

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia YouTube Videos matching query: "peace corps" "Armenia"&search_sort=video_date_uploaded

2012-05-07 18:49:57

	Dance camp at Spitak YMCA A dance camp held by Peace Corps Armenia in the Spitak YMCA for the TenSing group Peace Corps Volunteers: Alex, Maggie, Matt and Caroline	From: YMCASpitak Views: 0 0 ratings
	Time: 07:01	More in Nonprofits & Activism

Portugal!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ashley's Adventures

2012-05-06 11:05:00

I just got back from a weeklong vacation in Portugal and had an amazing time. So amazing that I didn’t want to go back to Armenia. I did much better adjusting to Armenia this time around than I did after Istanbul. It helps that its warm and sunny now, and that I’ll be going to America in 42 days, not that I’m counting J More like desperately hoping the time flies by so I can see my family again. Portugal was a week to recharge my batteries and visit a beautiful country. I climbed castles, visited churches, and explored Lisbon until I couldn’t walk anymore. I also did many American things, like eat at Burger King, and watch an American movie in English. Hunger Games: Awesome. I started rereading the books on the airplane back to Armenia. Here are some pictures of Portugal:

Wedding Bells

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ev's Travels

2012-05-05 20:08:45

I’m sad to be missing my brother’s wedding today. My entire family will be there, except me. My parents and all 14 brothers and sisters, plus in-laws, nieces, and nephews. I wish Martin and Ina all the best, as they … Continue reading →

Trial Run in Vanadzor a Success!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Border2Border

2012-05-05 09:26:12

B2B 2012 got off to a great start yesterday in Vanadzor with a trial run of some of the workshops that will be presented during our actual walk. With the help of B2B alum Michael Zier, walkers for this summer Jack, James, Tamara, Kellianne, and David reviewed and ran through several of the workshops with [...]

Hike around Vanadzor

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Border2Border

2012-05-05 10:40:17

Following a great day of practicing lesson plans, B2B 2012 participants Jack, Kellianne, Tamara, James and David went on a practice hike around Vanadzor. Joined by other volunteers and locals from Vanadzor, the group hiked about 7 km in the surrounding hills of Armenia’s third largest city.

Should I Have Chased that Chicken?

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ev's Travels

2012-05-04 19:33:03

As I write this, a storm is brewing out my window. The sky is black with clouds and thunder is booming in the distance. A thin sprinkling of rain is just starting to fall. My host mother turns over one … Continue reading →

Border to Border - Սահմանից Սահման

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Destination: Hayastan

2012-05-02 06:50:00

I'd like to turn your attention briefly away from my own blog to that of another Armenian PCV's. Here is a post about an upcoming project we're working on in Armenia - Border 2 Border. It's a very unique project that I am grateful and lucky to be a part of this summer. Often Peace Corps projects require a little extra funding to be executed. In this case, the team of organizers is fundraising both from Armenian sources and through the extended Peace Corps (that means you, and any American citizen!) Please, check out this blog post for more information and some details on how you can get involved!

http://tomhtravels.blogspot.com/2012/04/border-to-border.html

International Art Exchange

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Emily's Armenian Adventures

2012-05-01 07:00:00

Here in Sisian we have an Art School with an attached art gallery. There they teach everything from drawing to rug making. There are some pretty impressive Artists that teach and attend the Sisisan Art school. I had them paint pictures of Armenia and their life to send to Washington DC. Some time in May we should get 25 new pieces of art from all around the world to display in the gallery.

Lilit with her painting of Noah's Ark on top of Mt. Ararat (which is currently in Turkey)

Grandmothers making Lavash

Kids throwing water at eachother on the water holiday Vrat Na Var

Border to Border - Սահմանից Սահման

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia I, Amerikatsi

2012-04-29 16:09:00

Living in a country smaller than the size of Maryland has its perks. Despite the predominately mountainous terrain that gives the country a wide range of climate zones and makes villages only kilometers away from each other actually close to a day's travel away, Armenia is still relatively speaking a compact place. This also means that walking across the country, from one border to the other, is not totally out of the question, insane prospect. So for three weeks this summer, myself and some fellow volunteers will be doing just that.

Border to Border is a project started up by some volunteers in Armenia last summer, and is now being continued for a second year running. Two teams of six volunteers, one from the Iranian border (that's my team) and one from the Georgian border will walk across Armenia for three weeks until we converge in the country's central town of Yeghegnadzor. Why, might you ask? Well, for some pretty good reasons as a matter of fact:

For these three weeks, we'll be walking for two very important causes in Armenia: children's health and environmental awareness. Lack of responsibility for one's health and for the local environment are two issues among Armenian youth (prevalent examples being garbage routinely dumped into local rivers and streams or the majority of young boys picking up smoking at age 15). And these issues we hope to help mitigate with a little leading by example, spreading of awareness, and teaching. Each team will stop in 9 to 10 Armenian towns and villages along the way, holding teaching sessions for each community at local schools and cultural centers. Armenians from different organizations such as FYCA (Federation of Youth Clubs in Armenia) and YMCA of Armenia will be teaming up with us along the way as well, teaching with us and even walking with us at times as well. At the end of the journey, we hope to have taught in upwards of 18 communities, passed through/had contact with countless other villages along the way, hiked nearly 600 K, and given valuable lessons and lasting impressions to a whole lot of children. Wish us luck. It's on!

Oh yeah, and we need donations too, so if you're in the position to do so, visit our donation portal here.

Peace Corps Armenia is Changing the Way I…

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ev's Travels

2012-04-29 09:40:58

When I learned my first words in Armenian, I wanted to skip down the street, smiling, and shouting, “Barev dzez,” to everyone I saw. My blond hair, casual clothing, and dirty shoes did not stop me from wanting to stand … Continue reading →

March 8th - Մարտի ութ

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia I, Amerikatsi

2012-03-17 10:30:00

On March 8th, Armenia celebrates “International Women’s Day,” along with many other countries around the globe (I think some people observe it in the U.S. but I don’t remember ever hearing about it until I got here). Armenian takes the holiday seriously, and folks take off work and toast to the women in their lives. Here the day also sort of marks the focal point of March, which is “Women’s Month.” The day before the holiday arrived, excited third-graders at the school exclaimed “dzer ton shnorhavor” to me, which is a standard Armenian phrase said on special days that basically means “congratulations on your holiday.” Why they wanted to congratulate me on Women’s Day I’m not so sure, but either they weren’t thinking that hard or they thought it was funny. My students have also congratulated me on Teacher’s Day, Armenian Army Day, Russian Army Day, and just about every other holiday that has come, so I guess they just like saying it.

To commemorate the day and enjoy the time off, Arevik — a woman of 22 from the village, the school’s art teacher, and a good friend of mine — her three friends Hakob, Victoria and Satenik, and myself went for a hike in the mountains surrounding the village. Arevik and her crew showed up in front of my house in Hakob’s old Lada at about 11am, we drove out to a dirt road that led into the mountains slightly until reaching a steep valley, got out where the road ended, and began our quest. The goal of the hike was to find an old abandoned church (Armenian’s have a serious penchant for visiting the old, abandoned Christian churches of their ancestors). Only one of us, Hakob, had been to this particular old church before though, and he hadn’t been there since he was thirteen years old, so he was a bit fuzzy on the exact location somewhere in this vast space of rocky slopes, valleys, brambles and pine. Also in tow we had skewers, raw chicken, goat cheese, coffee, lavash, potatoes, pickled vegetables and a beat up Russian history book for starting a fire, so a traditional Armenian Khorovats (basically barbeque) was in order at some point in the day as well. I wasn’t at all aware at the time, but we wouldn’t be coming back down to the village until some 8 hours later.

We set out from Hakob’s Lada and Victoria, or “Veek” as everyone was calling her, immediately started showing off her prowess in mountaineering, shooting up the slopes in incredibly fast spurts and then waiting for the rest of us patiently at intervals as we summited behind her at a more reasonable, out-of-shape person's pace. I tried my best to keep up, every now and then coming around a bend or getting over a boulder to see her sitting back propped up against a tree waiting for us to reach her so that she could continue. Before getting up to run ahead and disappear again, she a couple times paused to hand me some sort of herb that she had picked while waiting and told me to eat it. It was green, looked like grass and tasted sort of sour, but not bitter. I figured I could use whatever amount of energy it held inside and ate it up.

As we reached the top of the first slope, Hakob, who had been staying behind with the other girls so far, now began showing off a bit too. He passed me up, disappeared as he started descending into the next valley, and what seemed like only 5 minutes later when I looked up I saw him already a kilometer or so out ahead and climbing up another slope. I was stunned by how fluidly a person could move through these mountains and also a bit put out that we still had to hike at least as far as he was. After catching up to Hakob and descending down into another valley, we came upon the stone foundation of an old barn. Maybe the church was nearby. People had lived here at some point anyway. Hakob seemed unsure. We followed a stream into a very shady and still partially snow-covered area for a little while longer before deciding that we’d have to eat before going on any further. We gathered wood and twigs, tore apart the old Russian history book and got a fire roaring. We skewered the meet, laid out the cheese and lavash, and got the khorovats roasting over the open coals. The potatoes were cooked simply by burying them under excess ash and hot coals, which I had never seen before but worked fine. Within a half hour we had a feast on our hands, and I sat amazed at Armenians’ ability to do a good khorovats literally anywhere. During the meal I felt great, not only because grubbing out after a long hike is really satisfying, but also because I was actually having a great time with Arev and her friends. I was understanding their Armenian almost perfectly, exchanging stories and jibes with them, and for one of the first times actually feeling connected with people my age in the country that are not just other Americans.

After eating we decided to call it quits on the church hunt and just head back to the village. It would take awhile as it was. We cleaned up, burned our garbage (better than just throwing it in the creek, which actually is the more common method of picnic disposal here), and then put out our fire.

Filled up on goat cheese, grilled chicken and potatoes, we took a steeper but more direct route back home. About halfway up, I looked back and spotted our elusive goal. Over one peak, across another valley and halfway up another lay a small, rectangular stone building that must have undoubtedly been the old abandoned church Hakob had been to when he was thirteen. I pointed it out to him and he confirmed it. Rather than let down, we were excited that we now knew where it was and could venture out to see it another time. It did make a very mysterious and almost taunting sight out there in the middle of nowhere, and we agreed make it out there soon.

A few hours later we were back in the village and exhausted. I got a free meal at Larisa’s (Arevik’s mother) of borscht, bread and cheese, strolled home, at more food there, and then let my tired bones hit the bed. I was asleep in seconds.

Shnorhavor – Շնորիավոր

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia I, Amerikatsi

2012-04-28 10:47:00

In Armenia, folks like to Shnorhavor things.

This word, shnorhavor, roughly translates to “congratulations,” but, as with a lot of cases when trying to succinctly translate something, it doesn’t do the word justice (I suppose this goes especially for translations between two languages as disparate as English and Armenian). You hear “shnorhavor” in Armenia in a lot of the situations where you would also here the English “congratulations,” like during weddings, or when you’ve just moved into a new place. You also hear it in some contexts where someone perhaps could give you a “congrats” in English, but it would ring a bit odd, like during birthdays (I don’t think people say “congratulations on your birthday,” all too often), when somebody in the village gets new windows, or when a grandchild gets new shoes. And then there are the situations where the translation seems to definitely be off, like the first day you wear a tie to work or when the first of a certain local mountain plant this season have grown and are ready to eat. It seems to mean much more than what a simple “congratulations,” is used often and creatively, and is always meant sincerely and to express good will (you don’t hear a lot of sarcasm around here, if any). A few of my favorite Shnorhavors I’ve experienced in country so far are as follows.

Նոր Կացին Շնորիավոր - Nor Katsin Shnorhavor – Congrats on the new axe

To stave off the cold during the brutal Armenian winter, I chopped a pretty substantial amount of wood toward the end of last year for my wood burning stove. I used my landlord’s old axe that I found in his storage area at first, but it didn’t last long. I’m no expert lumberjack, my form is probably laughable (at least to Armenians) and I take wild swings sometimes that dig into knotty portions of the wood that dull the blade and weaken the shaft. After a few days of using it, I had broken my landlord’s axe, split the shaft right in two. My neighbors tried helping me fix it, but it was bound to break again, so I started looking for something a little stronger/safer. I headed to Meghri, the nearest town, bought myself a new shaft and blade for a total of 4,000 dram. I was then told that I should bring the parts to a man named Hamlet, who lived in my village and apparently was the local master craftsmen of sorts. I brought the two parts to his house, and his daughter told me that in a few days he’d have it all fixed up and ready for me. About three days later, as I was getting ready to leave work at the school, I was called into the teacher’s lounge. There, resting in the middle of the room on a table usually dedicated to class textbooks, notebooks of lesson plans, and cups of coffee was a shinning new axe. My schools art teacher had written “TOM” in blue sharpie on the shaft, so that it was perfectly clear exactly who this tool of destruction belonged to. Hamlet had not simply attached the axe head to the shaft for me. The blade was razor sharp, and behind the axe head he had installed a small iron plate, reinforced with bolts, to make it super secure and more or less indestructible. Walking out of the school with this deadly thing, I was immediately swarmed by the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade boys hanging out in the playground. They gathered in a circle around me, jumped up and down, tried to come up to touch it, and gave me many a sincere “shnorhavor” on my new acquisition. So, in Armenian villages anyway, it’s okay for teachers to walk out of schools with big, razor sharp axes.

Բոխի Շնորիավոր - Bokhi Shnorhavor – Congratulations to Bokhi (??)

The other day at work, my school’s principal, a white-haired, stout, severe but also mischievous kind of man, told me that I need not go to the third grade during the upcoming class period, because we had something important to do in his office. Per usual, he didn’t tell me what this was, but I obliged without any sort of complaint because, well, if the school head says I don’t have to teach next hour, then I’m not. I walked into his office to see the small table all set up with sausage, cheese, lavash, fruit, and a mysterious, green, limp, celery-looking vegetable on a platter in the center. “Tom, this is called Bokhi,” he explained to me. He said it was the first Bokhi of the spring, fresh from the mountains, and we had to celebrate a little. Two of the other male staff at the school, Karen and Aram, joined us, and we spent the next 45 minutes chowing down and sipping my director’s homemade vodka with many toasts of “Boki shnorhavor.”

Փողկապ Շնորիավոր - Poghkap Shnorhavor – Congratulations on the tie

Last Friday, the American Ambassador to Armenia paid a visit to my school. I’ll have more on that whole ordeal in another post, but overall it went great. Among many other preparations for the visit, I decided I’d put on a tie for the occasion, which is the first time I’ve worn one at the school (despite the fact that for some reason I packed about 5 of my favorite ties when I left America last summer). One of my 7th grade students, a boy named Roler, said to me when I walked in, “Mr. Tom you are wearing a tie!” I responded in the affirmative. “Shnorhavor,” he said to me sincerely.

Ձեր Տոնը Շնորիավոր - Dzer Tone Shnorhavor – Congratulations on your holiday

On pretty much any Armenian holiday, you’ll hear shnorhavoring going on all around the village. On Nor Tari (new year), everyone shnorhavor’s everyone, saying what would translate to “congrats on your holiday!” and then the response, “yours too!” On other holidays, people are shnorhavored who have a connection with the holiday, so for instance army veterans are shnorhavored on WWII victory day, which Armenian’s do in fact celebrate. One thing that’s confused me a bit though is that on just about every Armenian holiday, I’ve been told “your holiday shnorhavor” by my students, regardless of if I have a connection or not. I’ve of course been told “shnorhavor” on big holidays like Nor Tari, but I’ve also been told “congrats on your holiday” on holidays like Women’s Day, Armenian Army Day, and Russian Army Day, which is still celebrated widely since many Armenian men served in the Russian Army, and also sort of serves as an unofficial “Men’s Day,” here as well.

A Wedding in Armenia

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Hedley in Hayastan

2012-04-26 16:51:00

The newly married couple, Mary and Scott, dancing at the reception.

Arteni is a small village in western Armenia.

One of our fellow volunteers, Scott, was married in Armenia on April 12. He issued a general invitation to all of the A18 volunteers, and many of us attended. Scott teaches English in the small village of Arteni in western Armenia and fell in love with his counterpart, Mary, a very nice and attractive young Armenian lady who is the English teacher at Arteni school. Arteni is about 1.5 hours from Yerevan and the countryside is mostly dry grasslands on low, rolling and rocky hills.

I traveled from Verishen to Yerevan in a shared taxi early in the morning of April 12 and went straight to the bus station where we could catch a marshutni to Arteni. Earlier information suggested that there were plenty of marshutnis throughout the day but I arrived there to see a full marshutni leave, and that was the last one until late afternoon. We called the other volunteers in Yerevan and got them to come quickly to the bus station and, with everyone there, tried hiring a marshutni for the journey. We departed with a full van, 15 volunteers and a few opporunistic Armenians. That marshutni died after 5 km and they couldn't restart it. So a few volunteers went back to the bus station and returned with three taxis which took us uneventfully to Arteni. Our drivers were in good humor, as this was better money and easier driving than fighting Yerevan traffic. We gathered at the house where Scott lived and, after a short delay, three musicians showed up and we started dancing. As part of the dancing, women hold aloft and pass around three baskets, one holds the wedding dress, and another holds the bride's shoes. We were then driven to the bride's uncle's house where the wedding was to take place, and after more music and dancing with the baskets, the bride went inside to put on the wedding dress.

These village kids watched us as we assembled at Scott's place.

Dancing before the wedding with the bride's dress and shoes in the baskets.

This little girl was very cute and it was her task to sprinkle rose petals from

her basket on the grass in front of the bride. However, she got stage fright

when she saw how many people there were - and they were all watching her.

These three musicians kept things lively before and immediately after the wedding.

The wedding was conducted by a fellow volunteer, who is ordained as a minister in the Universal Life Church. A legal marriage had already taken place in oder to start the visa application process for Mary. Most Armenian weddings take place in a church and the service and vows are standardized. However, Scott and Mary wrote their own marriage service and vows. The wedding was outside with apricot trees just starting to flower. After the service there was more dancing and then we headed off in a convoy of vehicles with horns blaring to the reception.

The bride being escorted by her father.

The wedding ceremony.

Dancing outside after the wedding ceremony. Lavash was draped over

Scott's and Mary's shoulders as a symbol of life together, I think

The noisy procession of vehicles on the way to the reception.

There were about 70 or 80 people at the wedding and reception, equally divided between volunteers and Mary's relatives and family. Scott's parents, who live in Atlanta, attended the wedding and paid for the reception. At each table there was wine, cognac, vodka, Jermuk (mineral water) and juice as well as greens, salads, lavash, and cakes. Khorovats (barbecue) soon appeared and we ate and drank well. In another departure from a conventional Armenian wedding, there was no tamada or toastmaster. Often the toasts from the toastmaster can be long winded and very frequent. We were happy to do our own toasts at each table. We danced a lot at the reception. The musicians said there would be a mixture of Armenian and American music for dancing, but, as they weren't familiar with American music and played DVDs we quickly said we'd rather dance to their live music.

The eating, drinking, dancing, and toasting continued for some time. At around 10 pm a few of us with appointments the next day left for Yerevan in a shared taxi. The celebrations continued after we left with more dancing, khorovats, and eventually the wedding cake. Some volunteers caught transport to Yerevan later that night and the remainder stayed the night and returned the next morning. We all agreed it was a lot of fun and, as it was the first wedding in Armenia for many of us, we were all glad we went. As Scott and Mary will soon be moving to America we all contributed to a wedding fund that we hope will help them start married life in the U.S. It is not uncommon for volunteers to get engaged or married while in Armenia. In our group of A18 volunteers, one male volunteer is engaged to an A17 he met here and they will be marrying in the U.S. this summer, one female volunteer is engaged to an A19 volunteer, Scott married Mary, and a female A18 volunteer is engaged to an Armenian male; this last union is unusual.

Spring was well under way in Verishen when I got back after the wedding.

100 Days

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Susan and Fred's Big Adventure

2012-04-26 04:41:00

Yesterday marked another milestone in our service. We have 100 days until we are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs). On August 3, 2012 we will be winging our way back to the U.S. for the next phase of our adventure. Details to follow as we know them.

In the meantime, our sincerest thanks to everyone for their love and support these past two years. You have made our lives more comfortable with your care packages, and your cards, letters and e-mail have kept our spirits up when we most needed it. So thank you, one and all.

On April 24, we traveled to Yerevan with some of our students to pay our respects at the Genocide Memorial. The museum and memorial serve as a reminder to all Armenians of the 1915 Genocide in Turkey. It was wonderful to see it through the eyes of our students, and to be part of the remembrance activities. After a 3 hour marshutni ride, we took a subway, walked a few kilometers, and then joined a 2 1/2 hour solemn march with a few hundred thousand people to the monument itself. Once there, we placed flowers on a flower wall surrounding the perpetual flame. By the end of the day, the bank of flowers was more than 4 feet high. This will give you an idea of what it looked like.

The night before we had participated in a candlelight march with our schools through the town to our local church. We did it last year, and it was a silent march. This year was a bit different--there were chants of "recognize" and the students carried signs and flags. We're so glad we could be a part of both of these events. We are constantly asked why America won't recognize the Genocide, and must always find a way to tactfully respond. In truth, it's a political issue on which we can have no opinion.

That's all for this post. It's way past spring here. The lilacs have come and gone, and it's already hot. Can't wait to see what real summer is going to be like!

We will be seeing you soon . . .

Armenian Genocide Memorial Day

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Voluntary Ruminations

2012-04-24 17:34:00

Today is Armenian Genocide Memorial Day. On Sunday, April 24, 1915, nearly 100 years ago today, the leaders of the Ottoman Empire (the modern day Turks) arrested approximately 250 Armenian intellectuals and leaders. This was the first step in a larger campaign of genocide, where through the use of mass burnings, biological and chemical warfare, rape, forced deportations and ensuing marches, between 600,000 and 1,500,000 Armenians were killed in a focused campaign to rid the Ottoman Empire of all Armenians.

The word "genocide" was coined in 1943 by Yale and Rutgers law professor Raphael Lemkin (who lost nearly 50 relatives in the holocaust). Upon coining the term, he said, "it happened so many times… First to the Armenians, then after the Armenians, Hitler took action." Hitler himself stated on August 22, 1939, as part of his argument for instituting the Final Solution, "Who after all speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

There are tragedies atop of tragedies here. The first tragedy is the mass murder of upwards of 1.5 million people. This was cold blooded and premeditated: people were forced to leave their homes simply because of their ancestry and then forced to march, sometimes in circles, until they dropped or were murdered by their captors. They were deprived of their lives, their communities, their religion, and everything that made them human simply because they were Armenian. Armenians inhabited the area now known as Turkey since time immemorial, and now, due to this genocide and decisions made by the United States at the end of World War I, they are now deprived of not only their human history, but their cultural and geographical history as well. Mount Ararat, the holy mountain from the bible and the symbol of Armenia, sits within the borders of Turkey today. An Armenian friend of mine once told me that her family still has a key to their ancestral home in Van, which is now in Turkey. Years ago, her father returned there--and the house is gone. They keep the key as a memory of all the people and places they lost as a result of the attempt by the Ottomans to destroy them and their culture.

The second tragedy is the fact that the United States has never formally recognized the Armenian genocide. Each time we step up to the plate to recognize this historically irrefutable event, Turkey begins making noise and we back down. Although our government has used the word "genocide" to describe these events informally, when Congress attempts to formally recognize this event as genocide there are always dire warnings of losing an ally we need for our various wars in the Middle East. During the 2008 campaign, our president stated that, "[the] Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence. The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy. As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, and as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide." However, since being elected, he has avoided the use of the term "genocide" whenever speaking of this issue. It is preposterous to think that our country and our leaders are so fearful of Turkey's displeasure that they can turn a blind eye to calling the event that the term genocide was coined for as genocide.

The final tragedy is that Hitler was partially right: very few people remember the Armenian genocide. Before I became a Peace Corps Volunteer I had heard of it, but it didn't really register on my radar. In America we are deeply aware of the tragedy of the holocaust, and also grudgingly accept the crimes perpetrated by the United States government against the Native Americans. We've heard of Pol Pot, are aware of what happened in Bosnia, and have heard of many other crimes committed against humanity. But the Armenian genocide only barely registers in our consciousness.

Why is this? For one, it was long ago. This happened around World War I, a period of time that most of us really don't understand. It also happened very quietly, before mass media, and despite being the basis for the term genocide, was eclipsed by the horrible film and still images coming out of post-WWII Germany. There are no photos, no Night and Fog, no writings that put the occurrences in stark relief like Elie Wiesel did for the holocaust. There was no media coverage, as during the modern genocides. There is only the memory of the Armenians, looking out over Mount Ararat, remembering what was, what used to be, before their cultural heritage was ripped from them through rape and murder, when grandparents, great uncles, and great aunts were slaughtered in an attempt to snuff out this ancient group of people from the Earth.

I spent six months in Armenia. During that time I got to know many Armenians and had some conversations about the genocide. Never once did I hear any talk of reparations. Never once did I hear anyone wanting revenge against the Turks for the crimes of their forefathers. In fact the only question I ever heard was "why." Why doesn't America recognize this historical event? Why won't America call this as it is, call it genocide? I never could answer that question because we, as Peace Corps Volunteers, are not to get involved in talking about politics. But now I can say to all my Armenian friends and the rest of you: I don't know why. It makes no sense to me either. And I believe the fact that America hasn't recognized this genocide is a crime in itself, an ongoing affront to the dignity and history of the people of Armenia.

Before I wrote this blog post I got on the phone to each of my representatives in Congress. I explained to their receptionists that I used to be a Peace Corps Volunteer, lived in Armenia, and that I wanted to urge them to recognize the genocide. They kindly agreed to pass my message along to my representatives. One of the receptionists told me that she studied abroad in Turkey for a year. I asked her about Armenian genocide recognition from the perspective of the Turks, and she said that all the young people she knew in Turkey wanted their government to admit the genocide happened. So, maybe, someday, as younger people come to power and the old is washed away, we will see the world recognize this historical event.

Finally, I want to ask each of you to call your representatives today, tell them this is Genocide Memorial Day, educate them about this genocide, and urge them to recognize this historical event. PCVs, you get a pass on this because of that no-politics thing, but RPCVs, I totally see this as a Third Goal issue. The rest of you, well, I hope after reading this you will be moved to contact your representatives as well . This is an important issue, and it is time for our country to formally call this crime against humanity by the only word that can describe it: genocide.

Spring - at last!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Hedley in Hayastan

2012-04-22 16:32:00

With the warm, moist air in April we are seeing a lot of clouds
on the mountains. The flowering tree in the foreground is a plum.

April has beenwarm and sunny. After a dismal end to March with more snow, strongwinds, and low temperatures, we enjoyed a sudden change to warmerdays and cool nights in April. As the snow melted, people's gardens were ahive of activity as manure was spread, the soil was turned over, andbeds were prepared. Onions and spinach (and other greens) haveemerged and now potatoes are being planted. In villages throughoutArmenia, getting the garden preparation underway early is crucial.Verishen has a dry summer and it's vital to get things growing earlywhile the ground is still moist. School in Verishen now starts 30minutes earlier, at 8:30, so that children are available for moretime in the afternoon to help in the garden. A lot of firewood wasdelivered in Goris and Verishen in late March while there was stillsnow on the ground and people went from cutting, splitting, andstacking it to working in the garden. Spring flowers startedappearing in mid-April and buds on willows and poplars were swellingby then. The river is running high through Verishen with all the snowmelt from the mountains and there's smoke in the air in the eveningsas people burn off the winter debris in their gardens.

This is how the garden looked before we started planting our

potatoes. Hrantic had already dug the garden and formed raised

furrows. It's all done by hand and takes a lot of work.

For planting potatoes, Hrantic first prepares a furrow

about half-way down the slope of the bed.

Zarik plants the potatoes in the furrows, I come behind her spreading

manure over the potatoes, and Hrantic returns later to cover the potatoes.

On April 12, manyof us attended a wedding in Arteni, a small village west of Yerevan.One of our fellow volunteers ( male) married his (female) Armeniancounterpart. That was a fascinating experience and merits its ownpost which will follow shortly. After the wedding, I stayed on inYerevan to see the dentist one last time and to attend a balletperformance at the Opera House. On Saturday, I walked around Yerevanvisiting the Cascade and revisiting Vernissage, the open-air market.The Cascade is a large white staircase built into a hillside incentral Yerevan. There are fountains with water running down theslope and it is the site of numerous outdoor concerts and publicdancing in summer. There are many statues over the Cascade and workis proceeding (slowly) on a museum of contemporary art at the top ofthe stairs. The ballet was most enjoyable. The theme was spring andfeatured choreography to Pugni, Mozart, Vivaldi's Spring, and Ravel'sBolero. I'm encouraging other volunteers to attend the ballet,symphony, or opera when they are in Yerevan as the performances areexcellent and ticket prices are surprisingly cheap.

Looking up at the Cascade from the base.

The Opera House and beyond from the top of the Cascade.

It was hazy when I went to the Cascade and the top of Mt. Ararat was
barely visible. On clear days, the view can be magnificent.

There are numerous pieces of striking sculpture on the Cascade.

After only oneday in Verishen, which I spent helping to plant fruit trees and movebags of manure to the more distant garden, I left early for Yerevanand then Aghveran, which is in the mountains above Arzakan. All ofour volunteer group attended two days of meetings this week inAghveran dealing with the conclusion of our Peace Corps service. Wehave a lot to do over summer – returning heaters, fireextinguishers, and water filters; documenting what we did during ourtwo years here; scheduling physical exams and exit interviews; andsubmitting final reports for all funded projects – but it all looksreasonable and most of us don't expect any problems. We stayed at afairly fancy resort hotel, much nicer than most of us are used to. Ithink the Peace Corps got a big discount as it is the start of theseason at Aghveran; it's still cool there with a lot of snow. Themeetings went fairly well and some of the time at Aghveran wasdevoted to reviewing our accomplishments here and preparing for ourreturn to America. I hadn't thought about until then but each of usdiffers from the person who arrived here in May 2010. Some of thechanges are minor and won't persist – We and Armenians tend toreach across the table at meals rather than asking to have thingspassed; Armenians don't line up much and we are used to being crowdedinto marshutnis, so our “personal space” has contracted. Otherhabits, such as a more relaxed attitude to personal hygiene, awillingness to accept tardiness and less structure at work, and anappreciation of the merits of eating less meat, may last longer. Ihave started to write down the changes I think I have undergone tobetter prepare myself for returning in August.

The view of our hotel at Aghveran as we arrived in the bus.

The view from our hotel at Aghveran.

The A18 group at Aghveran. From the 58 who arrived, our numbers are now down to 46.

Several left early to take up jobs, two were sent home for medical reasons, one was "early

terminated" (expelled), and the remainder decided to leave, with most leaving early during

pre-service training.

In July 2010, after an enjoyable July 4 joint celebration with our host

families, the 8 volunteers in Arzakan posed for this picture - along with

one of Armenian teachers and her son.

As all 8 of us are still here, we decided to recreate that picture at.

Aghveran. This is the result.

Armeniahas many memorials to the departed. Old memorials are in theform of "khachkars"or cross-stones which are a distinctivepart of Armenian culture. More recently headstones took the formof Armenian script carved into stone blocks and, for the last 30years, many gravestones have featured a picture of the deceased,usually based on a photograph provided by the family. Some of theseare very artistic and they are all done by hand. The “picturestone” is usually a thin veneer of stone which is laid over theheadstone. As Zarik explained it to me, the picture is prepared by anartisan tapping on the picture stone with hammer and chisel – alight tap registers as white, a medium tap appears grey, and black isproduced by a heavy tap. The result is then buffed to give a smoothfinish and mounted on the gravestone.

Verishen Cemetery. Gravestones from the early and mid-twentieth century

featuring Armenian script.

I like this gravestone. The raised objects are unusual and give one

the idea that Aghalo Miroiyan liked barbecue and a glass of wine.

This is one of my favorite headstones both for the detail

and for what it tells us about the deceased.

Afterthe funeral, there is another commemoration 40 days after the deathand another on the one year anniversary.

Primulas (P.veris ?) are very common in the forest in April.

We have a lot of semi-wild plum trees on the hill west of the house. The fruit aren't

great but this time of the year the blossoms are spectacular.

Alaverdi Sanahin and Haghpat: Cross-post with www.armenia-hayastan.com

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Hey Amerikatsi- A Peace Corps Volunteer in Armenia

2012-04-22 15:25:00

The operator of the Alaverdi-Sanahin cable-car has a slight memory problem.
[When was the ropeway built?] I ask him
[When was it built? What did you have for dinner last night?]
[I don't understand. I'm sorry, my Armenian isn't very good.]
[What did you eat for dinner last night? I'm 65 years old. I can't remember what I had for dinner last night. How can I remember how old the ropeway is?]
[But is it safe?]
[Of course it's safe. I remember how to drive it.]

Unlike the slick, newly opened cable-car in Tatev, the Alaverdi-Sanahin cable-car in Lori Marz is a daily commuter. Its windows are scratched and cloudy, its paint worn and the operator must step out at each stop to keep the car from swaying on its single carrying cable. But for a princely sum of 140 drams (~40 US cents) for a roundtrip, about 1/20th the price of the Tatev trip, the cable-car is an essential connection between the town of Sanahin, located on a clifftop overlooking the Debed River and the mining city of Alaverdi located in the valley floor.

The Alaverdi #2 Cable Car and the town's copper mine

After overflying the river and rising up along a vertical cliff face, the cable-car deposits commuters and tourists at the bottom of Sanahin. It's a 15-minute walk out to Sanahin's twin tourist attractions: the Mikoyan museum, dedicated to the life and careers of Artem Mikoyan, the legendary fighter jet designer and Anastas Mikoyan the Soviet apparatchik; and Sanahin monastery, a 10th-century monastic complex and UNESCO world heritage site.

Haykush Mikoyan and the MiG-21

I'm an airplane nut, so I couldn't help but visit the Mikoyan museum, where I had the pleasure of meeting Haykush Mikoyan, the museum's curator and niece of the Mikoyan brothers. The centerpiece of the museum’s collection is Artem Mikoyan’s most successful fighter, the MiG-21.This particular jet, Haykush explains, was built in Tbilisi, little more than an hour’s drive away. Appropriately, a family of wasps has taken up residence in the right aileron. The museum itself houses a collection of flight suits, books and aircraft models. The first floor also houses artifacts relating to life in Sanahin, including a medal presented by Soviet authorities to Mikoyan’s parents for having five children.

Artem’s brother Anastas Mikoyan occupies a corner of the museum. He had a storied career as an unusually long-lived Soviet apparatchik with a close relationship to Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev. Photos show Anastas cavorting with dignitaries and revolutionaries ranging from Latin American guerillas to Ford engineers. His official GaZ car is preserved in a glass case outside.

Tourists explore Haghpat

After I've got my fill of aviation history, I head up the hill to Sanahin. Its archways, domed halls and grottoes are majestic in the light of the Spring day. From Sanahin, it is possible to see its sister monastery, Haghpat, across the gorge. Haghpat and Sanahin share majestic medieval Armenian architecture, blending secular and ecclesiastic styles and featuring intricate khachkars, the cross-stones that are a central feature of Armenian art. Although most travelers will choose to take a taxi or marshrutka down the hill, through Alaverdi and back up the gorge, intrepid travelers can choose to walk the 6-kilometer hiking trail between the two. I personally choose to ride the cable-car a second time and return to Alaverdi to catch a taxi. [It's a beautiful walk and it can be done in a few hours,] says my driver [but you're too fat.]

Close of Service Conference

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Susan and Fred's Big Adventure

2012-04-22 07:20:00

There are numerous milestones in the career as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Completing your Pre-Service Training, Swearing In, All-Volunteer Conferences, Mid-Service Conference, and finally . . . Close of Service (COS) Conference. We just completed the last official conference in our 27 months of service, our COS Conference. This is where we learn about all the paperwork we need to complete before we can leave Armenia. And there is a lot of it. We have a 5-page checklist of things that we have to do, all of which require sign-off by someone at Peace Corps. These include medical, administrative, safety and security, language, program manager and country director signatures. A daunting task to say the least.

As for the conference itself, it was a wonderful opportunity to see people we don't usually get to see, and some we probably won't get to see again. The geography in Armenia makes visiting some PCVs difficult at best--some are a 2-day trip away, assuming everything goes as planned. So we spent 2 days at Arthur's Aghveran Resort near Arzakan, Armenia. It was one of the nicest places we've been to, at least for a Peace Corps-sponsored conference. In addition to day-long meetings on various administrative procedures, we had a visit from the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern (and his wife Libby), learned how to apply for jobs, how to prepare resumes, and had time for an engagement party, karioke, swimming, and just hanging out. We will miss being with these people in ways that we can't yet begin to comprehend.

I have a countdown timer on my computer. Today it says 102. That is 102 days until we are able to head back to the U.S. We still have 5 weeks of school to finish, English language camps, and many, many goodbyes. Plus we'd like to see a little bit of the country before we head home. Fred has discovered a unique way to see the south--he's going to be part of the Border-to-Border walk this summer. His group will leave with the far south near Iran and walk around 300 km to Yeghegnadzor in the middle. Over the course of three weeks, he will go up and down numerous mountains, stop to camp, teach children about healthy lifestyles, and see some amazing sites. I did this last summer from the north, and it will be interesting to see what it's like from the south.

So as we near the end of our service, it has been interesting to reflect on our time here in Armenia. We are the 18th group of volunteers here. We started with 58 volunteers and now are down to 47. Some left during training, some have left for medical reasons, others more recently for new jobs. And now those of us who are left are saying goodbye to each other, to communities where we have lived for the past two years, to children we have taught, and to families we have become a part of. It is bitter-sweet for sure. It's exciting for us to listen to the plans of the younger (and older) volunteers too. Many will travel or go on to graduate school. One will be getting married in July. And all seem to have big plans for the future. We are excited for them!

What does the future hold for us? Right now, we have no idea. We have few possessions back in the U.S. and no real home. And currently, no jobs or job prospects (although we hope that will change soon). It's both exciting and a little unnerving at the same time. We do get a small amount of money from Peace Corps to "readjust" to our life back in the states, so hopefully we can make that last a little while as we figure out the next direction our lives will take.

Whatever happens, we have had an experience here that has changed our lives in ways we can't possible know right now. We look forward to sharing some of that with you when we get home. We'll try to keep it to 5 minutes or less when you ask us about what it was like to be in the Peace Corps.

In the meantime, here is a photo of our A-18 group at our COS conference.
See you all in 102 days . . .

More on that Later…

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ev's Travels

2012-04-21 08:05:02

…YOU Decide What “That” Is! Some days, there are a lot of things I want to tell you about, but can’t seem to pick one topic to focus on. So today, I’m going to throw out a few teasers of … Continue reading →

Girls Leading Our World Camp

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Alyssa’s Journey to find Felicity, Passion and Rapture

2012-04-20 11:17:00

Hello Everyone!
I just got back from my close of service conference where I heard some alarming news. This year our GLOW camp, an amazing Peace Corps sponsored camp that teaches young women about career paths, leadership training, and gender development issues is in serious trouble due to lack of funding this year. If you remember last year I nominated three incredibly intelligent young women who attended this camp and came back with so many ideas that they have already put to action in Spitak. This program is really empowering for young Armenian women who often don't have many chances in an extremely male dominated culture. Among other things, Glow camp teaches AIDs education, in a country where aids is never discussed but raising in numbers... It teaches women how to protect themselves, how to ask their future husbands to be tested and how to talk to other about it.
Last year I discussed the impact that this camp had made on my students in this post

I have never solicited funding via my blog nor facebook, but I am making an exception this once because I truly believe in this camp, Armenian women and their futures... If you'd like to make a donation please please please, follow this link

Spring has sprung

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Alyssa’s Journey to find Felicity, Passion and Rapture

2012-04-17 09:14:00

I couldn't resist taking this picture of my 3rd grade boys yesterday in class! They just look so polished and grown up! It was also a sign that spring has finally begun. No more ugly winter cloths!!! The sad thing is it's my last spring in Armenia. Today I will head to my COS Conference which stands for close of service. Peace Corps is preparing us to leave the country and go back to our ordinary American lives... I can't even imagine what that will be like at this point.

I have about a month left to spend with my amazing students and then only summer remains before I come home. So one more round of Armenian Ice cream, lazy mornings, fresh amazing fruit and vegetables, a few summer camps, at least one more wedding, hopefully some last Armenian sightseeing trips and then I am out of here. Time goes by so faster that we can catch it and learn to cherish it.

Eye of the Storrm

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ashley's Expeditions and Insights

2012-04-17 02:40:00

I intended to post sooner but alas, my brain has turned into this weird mushy blob inside my head.

I just got back from a weekend trip to Chicago, a place I used to call home. My last visit there for at least 28 months. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit, spent with a very dear friend (or three). I cherished the moments, knowing that the next ones would not be for quite awhile. I visited my favorite restaurants and savored the sushi, Ethiopian, and vegan cuisines that I so adore and also had the opportunity to try and fall in love with Nepalese food as well. I saw a movie, did some dancing, saw a pretty darn good band play, met new people, visited some of my favorite secondhand stores, and spent some much-needed quality time with one of my very best friends.

It has been recommended to me to enjoy the time I have in America while I'm here, as that is the one thing that I will not be able to do in Armenia. I am doing just that. However, I've found that my mind is definitely not in America 100% of the time, as everything I do seems somehow relevant to my leaving or my future in Armenia. I find myself looking at coffee tables or wall art thinking: "What an inappropriate purchase that would be right now." I stop in the middle of the grocery store and look at the vast amounts of variety and selection and am immediately aware that no matter what time of year, all of this will always be available here in my little American town. I wonder what my grocery shopping experiences will be like two months from now or ten months from now, I wonder who I am going to be conversing with, I wonder how I am going to be conversing and in what degree of accuracy and understanding.

The days are inching closer, and I'm consciously trying to maintain a moderate-to-low stress level. What I am experiencing is akin to being in the eye of a storm. The feelings of joy, excitement, impatience, melancholy, and about a zillion others are rushing through me at any given moment. I'm thankful that I am mindful enough to allow these feelings flow through me rather than try to hold them and find myself overwhelmed. And also thankful that I am mindful enough to remember why I have chosen this path: peace peace peace.

Om shanti shanti shanti

The Small Things

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ashley's Adventures

2012-04-16 18:38:00

What started as an awful week eventually turned into a week full of small, wonderful moments.

A boy from my 7^th form class brought me a bouquet of tulips from his mother’s garden “so I would be happy again.”

I had 6 students compete in the Koghb Poetry Competition with Susan and Fred, volunteers from Noyemberyan, as judges. Each student who participated received an English book (Thanks mom and Andy for getting those to Armenia!)

I brought 4 of my students to the Noyemberyan Regional Competition. They didn’t place, but they are excited to try again next year now that they know what the judges are looking for. Also, I am freakishly tall in Armenia.

We found asparagus in Noyemberyan, I don’t have a picture of the delicious food, but I do have a picture of us volunteers smiling because we found it haha.

I taught an awesome lesson on past tense irregular verbs today with my counterpart. For the first time since I have been here she complimented me on the lesson plan and said that the children learned a lot today. So things are definitely starting to look up in my village again. I leave for Portugal in one week and I promise to come back with lots of pictures J

A Lil’ Help to Keep our Volunteer Projects Going

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ev's Travels

2012-04-15 19:46:04

We do a lot of improvising in Armenia, like the time my host mom made a “chocolate” cake without cocoa because she didn’t have any. Or the time we cleaned out computers at the college with a hairdryer because we … Continue reading →

New Routes, New Teams, B2B 2012 Is Here!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Border2Border

2012-04-15 17:49:39

Welcome to Border to Border 2012, It’s been a long Armenian winter….and now we’re getting geared up and are all quite excited to announce this year’s walk. Check out our official project page and information on how to donate here. This year’s initiative will once again be a “marathon for Armenian youth,” during which we [...]

Armenian/American love

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Alyssa’s Journey to find Felicity, Passion and Rapture

2012-04-13 16:50:00

So as I said in my previous post, yesterday I travelled to the tiny little village of Arteni, to go to a wedding. This was no ordinary wedding; this was the wedding of a Peace Corps volunteer to a Host Country National, or HCN as we say. Not just any HCN either, this was the wedding of my friend Scott to his counterpart Mary!! That is right; he married the person chose at random to be his lifeline in Armenia, kind of makes us question how much is really ever random!! No Peace Corps volunteer ever comes to country thinking that they will find the person that will find their true love. Most of us don’t even think we will find anyone to date while we are in an isolated part of the world. During training the doctors explain to us that no one ever thinks they will fall in love here and most take a vow of celibacy but that statistics show that in fact most of us will actually find some sort of love and that many of us will marry the person that we find. I can remember hearing this and laughing with my friends as we all said yeah right, and I believe my friend Scott was one of those people.
So that Scott fell in love with his counterpart is an unexpected course of events, unless you were around on the day that all the TEFL volunteers met their counterparts that is… On that day, Scott fell in love at first sight, and since that day there has never been anything else on his mind other than making Mary his wife. In November of 2010 we had a counterpart conference with all the English teachers and their colleagues. We were sitting around having some beers when Scott announced that he wanted to marry his Mary! At the time I thought he was absolutely out of his mind, at that time I had still not adjusted to the culture and couldn’t see how any American could have a serious relationship with a HCN… let’s just say my views have changed since then…
So as you can see the love story of Scott and Mary is one that is described with one word: DESTINY!! Really, I haven’t been this excited to witness a marriage in a long time and I was so glad to be able to take part in such a beautiful mixture of American and Armenian culture.
When I first arrived to Arteni with my boyfriend, neither of us really knew what to expect, as this wedding was neither Armenian nor American but instead a hybrid of the two. When we arrived we were greeted by a large number of Peace Corps volunteers who all came to support Scott, but what was most exciting was seeing his parents standing around anxiously not really knowing what to expect. I tried to imagine what they must be feeling, this being their first time in Armenia, not speaking the language and never having witnessed an Armenian wedding. I thought back to the first Armenian wedding that I attended almost two years ago, and remembered how confused I was but also how interesting it all was to me. I guess what made is so amazing to me, is that they were brought to Arteni of all places, a place that even my Armenian boyfriend commented about the poverty there. I can’t imagine what they thought seeing for the first time where their son has lived for the past two years and where their new daughter grew up. I also thought how amazingly lucky Scott is to have two parents that were willing to make such a long journey to share this day with their son. What’s more, they actively participated in every step of the way, from dancing with the Armenians (more of just clapping their hands), to placing the levash over the bride and grooms shoulders after the vows were said, to taking toasts with a group of Armenian men, when they really had no idea what was being said.
I have to say that I loved every moment of the wedding but my favorite part was when all the Peace Corps young women were invited in to watch the bride get dressed. An Armenian woman belted out a beautiful song about the brides dress and her wedding day as loud as she could, as this is usually the job of the groom’s family, but being that only Scott’s mother was there, and she doesn’t speak Armenian, and the rest of us girls don’t know the song, she went at it alone as the bride was tied into her dress and pearls were put around her neck and on her ears. Scott’s mom explained to us that the earrings had come from her mother in law, which made it so much more special, and a fantastic sweet blending of cultures. The Armenian woman, red in the face and no longer able to carry the weight of being the sole singer asked us to sing. We all looked around for a moment and then out of nowhere someone began singing Going to the chapel… I can’t tell you how beautiful and sweet it was… possibly all the more beautiful because we really have some girls who can sing. The Armenians sat around us staring and smiling and the end gave us a huge round of applause…
Really it was such a magical day, and because there was a huge amount of Americans who had no idea how to Armenian dance, I even had a great time dancing with my boyfriend, though mostly he laughed at us all. And for the first time, I tried, and learned to dance the traditional Armenian folk dance that I have seen at every single wedding but have always been afraid to take part. So congrats Scott and Mary, really I think that the two of you were destined to be together and wish you all the happiness in the world!!

Ode to Spitak

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Alyssa’s Journey to find Felicity, Passion and Rapture

2012-04-13 15:51:00

I spent most of my day yesterday driving throughout the Western most parts of Armenia with my boyfriend, traveling to a wedding in Arteni, a village so small and obscure most Armenians have never even heard of it. Over the course of 3 hours we saw many different small villages that we had never heard of before and of course we experienced Talin and Arteni first hand. I have to say, I am used to villages and small towns here but man did this experience open my eyes to how poor some parts of Armenia still are. It is very easy for me to live in Spitak which is a relatively big town and to forget what it used to be like living in Alapars where we had no running water and had to go to the stream to collect it a few buckets at a time. So anyways being in Arteni has made me appreciate my Spitak much more and I thought I'd share with you a video of my beautiful little spitak which I have grown to love and sometimes hate with love. By the way for you A-20ers, Spitak will become home to two or three of you in August!! I just hope you guys learn to love it as much as I do!!
And also I added a Sophie picture because really she is just so cute!

A Sad Story

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Ashley's Adventures

2012-04-11 13:36:00

When I first moved into my house there was a dog, Jeana, living on my porch. Every day I gave her food and water and she would follow me wherever I went. I tried not to become attached, but soon everyone in the village called her my dog and I looked forward to seeing her when I came home from work.

Today is the one day of the week that I go to school late. I slept in, went to the post office, and made my way to school at around 11. When I got to school Manik, my friend and an English teacher, said that my dog had been hit by a car and that the children who live near me were looking for me for help. The children left class to show me where Jeana was. She was lying on the side of the road in front of our school with broken legs and blood everywhere. I started crying in front of everyone: students, teachers, soldiers and even my school director. Each student who saw me said, “Ms. Ashley, don’t cry, it will be ok, we will get you another dog.” Most families do not have pets in Armenia so they thought it was strange for me to be crying over a dog.

All of my students in the 7^th form were trying to come up with ideas to help move Jeana back to my house. No taxis would take her and most of the boys were afraid to even touch her. I walked to the art school with a few children and thankfully found Ara. He is an amazing painter and speaks a little English. I told him what had happened and he walked with us to Jeana. Boys from the 12^th form came outside and painstakingly tried to move Jeana into a box so that they could carry her. It was heartbreaking to watch because she wasn’t able to move at all, and there was too much blood for the boys to move her with their hands. They searched a nearby trash dump and came back with a rusty car door that they managed to slide under Jeana. They carried her all the way to the art school. They placed her on the grass and covered her with a blanket. The people at the art school began calling doctors to see if anyone who come look at her, but they were either too busy or said there was nothing they could do. I stayed at the art school for several hours and they eventually told me to go home because I was exhausted and kind of a wreck. Two hours later my neighbor came over with a box of chocolates and told me that Jeana died at the art school. Manik called right after and said that they had buried the dog next to the school.

This has definitely been my saddest day in Peace Corps service. My school and the art school did everything they could to help Jeana and she still died. At least she was able to die peacefully on the green grass near the art school instead of on broken glass on a street corner. I am so thankful for my community for their help, especially since the culture in Armenia is not hospitable to animals. RIP Jeana.

Viva Italia!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Wherever I May Roam

2012-03-28 12:41:00

I used my remaining vacation days to visit Italy for a couple weeks. I took about a thousand pictures, but here are some of the better ones. Get ready for a lot of pictures of sculptures.

You can't help but notice this imposing building, Il Vittoriano. It was built to honor Victor Emmanual, the first king of unified Italy. Construction started in 1911 and completed in 1935. Romans refer to it derogatorily as "the typewriter" because of the shape.

I was lucky enough to stay in an apartment in this amazing neighborhood located in the Jewish Ghetto. Rome's Jewish neighborhood is one of the oldest in Europe.

I went on a bike tour along the Appian Way. The Appian Way is an ancient Roman road that connected Rome with Brindisi in the south. After the defeat of Spartacus in 71 BCE, the Romans crucified the 6,000 survivors along the 200km section from Rome to Capua.

Wholesale wine store along the Appian Way. 1.5 liters for €1.70. My only regret was that I did not have a bigger backpack.

The Flavian Amphitheater (Colosseum) is just as impressive as I thought it would be.

My buddy Gage and I attended a gladiator school where we learned the training and fighting techniques of gladiators.

The Pantheon was much more impressive than I imagined it to be.

Even though Italian wine is phenomenal, I had to have an Italian beer every once in a while.

The Capitoline Wolf. This sculpture depicts Romulus and Remus being nursed by a she-wolf. The wolf probably dates back to the 5th century BCE and Romulus and Remus probably date to the 15th century CE. According to legend, Romulus and Remus were the sons of the king of Alba Longa. Their father was deposed and they were thrown into the Tiber River to die. They were raised by a wolf and then some shepherds. When told of their true identities, they formed an army and retook their father's throne and decided to found the city that would become Rome.

This is a sculpture depicting the Emperor Commodus as Hercules from 192 CE. You may remember Commodus from the movie Gladiator. The plot is not accurate at all, but he really did fight in gladiator matches.

The Capuchin Crypt is one of the weirdest places that I have ever seen. It is located in tiny chapels beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini. It contains the skeletal remains of 4,000 bodies believed to be Capuchin friars arranged in intricate patterns.

On the Ides of March, I visited the place where Caesar was probably murdered.

I was not expecting to get fantastic micro-brewed beer, but I found Open Baladin. By far the best beer and burgers that I have had in a long time.

This is Michelangelo's famous sculpture, Pieta. It is located within St. Peter's Basilica.

View from the top of St. Peter's Basilica.

No matter where I go I always seem to find something Armenian. This a statue of St. Gregory the Illuminator. He was instrumental in converting Armenia to Christianity. In 301 CE, Armenia became the first nation to make Christianity the official state religion.

The Sistine Chapel was awe-inspiring. It interested me so much that I started reading about it and doing some research. A new theory suggests that hidden illustrations of anatomy can be found throughout the paintings in the chapel. It is suggested that the image where God is reaching out to Adam is actually a cross-section of the human brain. "God" only knows what the best Ninja Turtle's (Michelangelo's) message was. You can read more about this theory here.

Tebowed Tebow to the Jets.

The Trevi Fountain. It is said that if a visitor throws a coin into the fountain, they are bound to return to Rome. It's estimated that 3,000 Euros are thrown into the fountain daily.

I found Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by accident. I was just wandering around and saw a small church that looked interesting. I went inside and discovered the sculpture.

Roman Aquaduct

After Rome, I traveled by train to Naples. I didn't take any good pictures of Naples, but Pompeii is nearby. This is the forum of Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

I had to sneak into the area where I took this picture.

At Pompeii, with Vesuvius in the background

This juice box wine was the worst/cheapest wine I had in Italy, but it was still far superior than anything that is produced in Armenia. I decided not to buy it again after I saw a homeless guy passed out on a bench with about 20 of these boxes strewn beside him.

Typical lunch in Naples. Margherita pizza and Peroni beer.

The catacombs of San Gennaro. San Gennaro is the patron saint of Naples. The catacombs are enormous.

This is a mosaic from Pompeii. It depicts Alexander the Great's victory over the Persians.

The Farnese Bull is a large sculpture that was unearthed in Rome in 1546 CE. It is thought to date from the 2nd century BCE. It is located in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.

This was carved out of marble! Veiled Christ, by Giueppe Sanmartino, is by far the most stunning sculpture that I have ever seen. Veins can be seen, as well as the wounds on his hands and feet.

Training Iranian Terrorists

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Armenia Joel Gillin

2012-04-08 10:41:37

Posting on this blog has been sparse, to say the least, and the majority of posts in the last year have been Peace Corps and/or travel-related. But I felt that a recent story in the New Yorker by Seymour Hersh was so incredible that it was worth taking time out of my busy schedule (not) to [...]